Accidentally in Love
by MissTeaCosy
Summary: After a little family disagreement. Draco finds himself in bad shape, however some unexpected help is found on the train. Please R&R xx
1. Chapter 1

Accidently in Love

_Wow, my first Harry Potter pairing story lol and it's a Draco/Hermione well...maybe more Hermione/Draco not sure lol I hope this goes okay though, if people like it and review I will be writing more of this, if not I will be leaving it as a One-Shot. So yeah, Enjoy. xx_

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><p>"Draco! Get up now!" spat Lucius Malfoy, the sting of a slap against his head waking him in an instant. He lazily sat up and quickly rubbed the sleepiness out of his eye to look at his father's piercing sneer. "I will not have you being late!"<p>

"Yes father"

After getting dressed into his robes, Draco went down to breakfast that his mother, Narcissa Malfoy had made.

"Good morning Draco" she greeted, placing two cups of tea on the table for herself and her husband. Who was sat reading the Daily Prophet.

"Morning mother" he was confused at to why his mother was handing out tea, as that was usually the job of the house elves. That must mean Lucius had them busy doing other things for him. So Draco didn't push on the matter and gave a kiss on his mother's cheek before taking a seat at the table.

"Back at Hogwarts now Draco, I hope you have completed your homework and studying" Narcissa sipped her tea after addressing her only child.

"Of course" Draco replied, almost offended that she would even suggest that he hadn't. However, it was his mother, so he would never raise his voice with her.

"You'd better have" Lucius stepped in the conversation. He, however Draco would gladly raise his voice to, if there wasn't a severe beating waiting for him if he did. "I will not have you not upholding the Malfoy name" Draco looked at his mother who just sipped her tea and avoided getting involved, while Draco discretely rolled his eyes.

"Yes father" he sighed then muttered under his breath. "We all know that's your job anyway"

The paper slammed onto the table startling both Draco and Narcissa as Lucius's glare pierced at Draco like daggers.

"Watch yourself _boy_" he warned dangerously. Which struck Draco with fear, he needs to learn not to talk back to Lucius, especially considering he is a death eater. It could the last thing he'd do. Silence remained at the table until everyone was finished.

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><p>Draco had got all his things ready for the school year at Hogwarts, and had the house elves carry his things to their car, which would take them to the train station.<p>

"Draco" Lucius stopped him from exiting the house. "Might I have a word quickly before we go?" his voice sounded sinister, yet he agreed to speak with his father in private. "Now Draco, you know very well of what my job is" Lucius referred about being a death eater. Which Draco tried hard to always ignore or even forget. "Your Mother is one too, and now we feel that you have reached an age that you too, can become one"

Draco's jaw dropped, he couldn't believe what he just heard. It was bad enough his parents had sold their souls to that…thing. Now they actually wanted him, their own son to do the same.

"No! I refuse!" Draco exclaimed. "I will not work for some…freak!"

"How _dare_ you!" Lucius struck Draco around the face so hard that it knocked him to the ground. "How dare you speak of the dark lord like that you disrespectful cretin!" he spat down as he watched his son spit out some blood caused from the impact his fathers hand and cane had with his face. Which was now swollen.

"You may be willing to become a servant for him! But I am not! I will not have that mark!" Draco barked at Lucius, who had a look of hatred.

"We'll see about that now won't we" Lucius sneered as he harshly grabbed his son by the collar of his robes and pulled him down to the basement.

"Let go father!" Draco desperately protested. Lucius threw his son onto the floor and gave him a kick in the ribs. Listening to his son cry out in pain with no remorse. "Please - Stop" he begged, but Lucius gave him one more kick, this time in the stomach, winding him.

"Changed your mind yet? … _son_" it sounded like that was the most dreaded thing he had to ever say, calling this weak, whimpering boy his son.

"N-No!"

Lucius lost his patience, and whipped out his wand from his cane and pointed it down to his son.

"Then you leave me no choice" he whispered, causing Draco's tear filled eyes to widen in fear. "Crucio!" he shouted, which sent an excruciating pain through Draco's body, causing him to groan, cry out and thrash on the ground in pain.

"P-Please! Stop!" Draco's tears fell as he begged his father to end this torture. However, Lucius showed no signs of mercy unless Draco did what he said. Draco wanted to die there and then. Anything to end the pain shooting through his body. He felt himself begin to slowly loose consciousness, until he heard a voice.

"Lucius!" Narcissa's tone was shocked and scared. "Stop this now!"

Lucius sneered down at Draco before ending his suffering, leaving him to sob hopelessly on the ground.

"How could you treat your son like this?" Narcissa asked in a sharp tone, aiding her son off the floor.

"Narcissa, he won't accept the mark. He needed some…persuasion"

"Persuasion?" she spat. "and nearly killing our son was the only way to do so?" her attitude towards Lucius only angered him more. "Come Draco, you'll be late for your train" Narcissa escorted him out, glaring at Lucius as they walked out.

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><p>At the train station, Draco had to keep his composure, as his mother tried to hide the swelling that took up half his face.<p>

"Enjoy your year Draco" she spoke softly to him, gently kissing the part of his face that wasn't swollen. "See you soon"

"Bye Mum" the fact he called her Mum automatically told her he was very upset. However, she couldn't do much now, with him going to Hogwarts and all. She waved him off, and watched him enter the train.

Everyone rushed around on the train, looking for a compartment that wasn't full. Draco ignored everyone in attempt to stop himself being sick, his body was in so much pain he barely could stand let alone walk and manage to remain conscious.

However, in his attempt to walk straight, he accidentally crashed into Hermione Granger. The impact to his body rattled what felt like broken ribs and he let out a groan. He held his ribs carefully, leaving Hermione confused and even concerned.

"Draco?" she asked, checking to see if he was alright.

"S-Sorry" he groaned and quickly passed her. Now she was defiantly confused. Did Draco just say sorry? Did he manage to say something to her without bringing the word Mudblood up?

She shook off these questions as she watched him walk off and resumed to the compartment Harry and Ron were sat in.

"There you are" said Ron, watching her sit down.

"Of course here I am I only went to give Parvati a text book, Ronald. I wasn't even gone 5 minutes" Hermione replied, which made Ron feel slightly embarrassed. Harry noticed Hermione had a troubled expression on her face.

"What's wrong Hermione?"

"Oh…nothing, it's just, well, something strange just happened" she confessed.

"Like what?" Ron asked, his mouth full from consuming a chocolate frog which Hermione gave a small disgusted look at.

"Well, I bumped into Draco in the corridor…but instead of leaving a rude remark like he normally does. He said sorry" Hermione explained, which wasn't so strange if you compare everything else the golden trio have experienced.

"Sorry?" Harry asked to confirm, a bewildered look on his face.

"Yes, for bumping into me…but he also seemed to be in a lot of pain"

"You're not worrying about him are ya?" Ron asked.

"Oh don't be ridiculous, of course not. Like I said, it was just strange" said Hermione, looking out the train window.

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><p>Sat with the other Slytherins, Draco's clothes began to feel damp underneath, so he quickly rushed from his compartment, not even telling anyone and headed for the train's toilets. Avoiding eye contact with anyone on the way.<p>

Once he got inside, instead of locking the door he just quickly took off his robes then lifted his shirt off to see blood pouring from the cuts and bruises he had gained from his 'father'.

Just remembering it caused tears to fall from Draco's eyes, however, as his breathing went in and out it caused Draco to be sick from the pain it caused him. Blood flowing with the stomach acid he threw up into the toilet. Draco's throat going into spasm then panicked him into thinking he was going to choke, once he managed to stop, the pain made him feel very light headed, then before he knew it. He passed out on the floor.

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><p>"How long till we reach Hogwarts?" Harry asked Hermione, who was lost in thought looking out the window. "Hermione?" Harry nudged his friends arm, which snapped her out of thought.<p>

"Oh, sorry" she smiled a guilty smile.

"What's with you? You have been quiet since you got here" said Ron, which Hermione shot her head round to.

"I have not"

"You have, I reckon it's because that thing that happened with Malfoy. Isn't it?"

"Oh honestly Ronald" Hermione got up and headed out the compartment. "Grow up" she snapped before slamming the door shut. Ron giving an confused look at Harry when she left.

"Touchy" he commented, while Harry shrugged.

Hermione walked through the corridor of the train to let off some steam. She didn't know why Ron's comment annoyed her so much, but she needed a moment away from him she knew that much. On her way down the train she heard screams from what sounded like first years, which meant Fred and George had done their usual pranks to break the first years in. Typical of them.

After wondering she decided she needed to use the ladies room, so headed to the toilets. Once she reached them, she noticed the door was shut so knocked on the door.

"Is anyone in there?" she asked, listening carefully for a reply. When she didn't she slowly opened the door, finding it stopping half way by something blocking. Frowning in confusion, she peered her head in and looked down at an unconscious Draco.

"Draco?" she gasped, squeezing through the small gap in the door and shutting it. Then quickly checked to see any signs of breathing. Thankfully, he was still breathing. It wasn't until she checked that, that she noticed his shirt was off, revealing his naked chest which was seriously beaten. Hermione was shocked. Who could have done this to him? Sure, he was a git most of the time but no one is deserving of this much abuse.

She contemplated on what she should do, she could just leave him. Knowing that is what he would most likely do if it was the other way round. Or let someone know he was in this condition. Whilst thinking, she noticed his ribs were mismatched. Clearly broken. Hermione was too good of a witch to let someone, even as horrible as Malfoy walk around with broken ribs. She just couldn't do it.

"You really don't deserve my help" she whispered to his unresponsive body. "But, you don't deserve these injuries either" she reached in her robes for her wand and held it to his ribs. "Brackium Emendo" a huge horrible crack sound was heard as his ribs all clicked back into place, which caused Draco to shoot awake. A cry of pain escaping his lips as he hugged his ribs, he looked at Hermione and sneered.

"What do you think you're doing Mudblood?" he spat at her.

"I think I am fixing your ribs for you! You ungrateful little cockroach" Hermione bit back, which relaxed Draco's expression as he observed his ribs which were now looking as nature intended. He looked back into Hermione's eyes and narrowed his at her.

"Why did you do that?" he asked accusingly. Hermione didn't really know how to answer that one straight away.

"I don't know" she shrugged. "I was trying to help you I suppose" for some reason it was hard for Draco to believe that, why would she of all people help him. She and he didn't really see eye to eye. However after a long awkward silence Hermione felt that was all she was going to get out of that conversation, but she suddenly felt herself being staring at his chest. A six pack? Malfoy had a six pack? That was defiantly a shock. She then realised what she was doing and got up, about to leave the toilets.

"Thanks" she heard a voice that sounded a lot like Draco's say. She had to turn round to confirm if that was actually his voice that thanked her.

"Sorry?" she asked.

"Thanks…for fixing my ribs" he muttered avoiding looking into her eyes.

"Oh…that's alright" she was shocked, but gave a small smile before leaving the toilets. She shook her head and had to think to herself, did that really just happen?

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><p><em>So yeah, took me a good 3 hours to write this, so I hope you enjoyed reading (: please leave a review if you liked it. Thanks for reading xx<em>


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_I'm really glad people liked chapter one of this, so I decided to make this a more than one chapter story, hope you continue reading and thankyouu for the reviews and favs and alerts. Enjoy. xx_

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><p>Hermione had remained quiet the rest of the journey to Hogwarts. On the train she didn't even bother going back to sit with Harry and Ron, but sat with them on the carriages that took them to the Hogwarts castle. However she didn't speak a word of the events that took place on the train, what would they think of her that she helped Draco Malfoy? They knew Hermione was pure at heart, but they would think she had gone totally mad if they knew she healed Draco. The boy who has made it his main goal to make their lives miserable.<p>

Once at Hogwarts they made their way into the Great hall, and waited for the first years to be sorted into their houses. Ron and Harry laughing among themselves at some of the younger wizards that looked scared to death at the sorting hat.

"That kid looks like he is going to pass out" Fred commented as the boy had lost all colour in his face as the sorting hat spoke to him.

"Defiantly belongs in Hufflepuff" said George.

"**HUFFLEPUFF**!" the sorting hat yelled, which the Hufflepuff table clapped to.

"Knew it" Fred and George said to one another smiling.

Hermione smiled at the twins, then shifted her eyes quickly to the Slytherin table to see Draco, who looked very ill. She could tell he was trying to keep a straight face, but she could easily imagine the pain he felt, even if she did heal his ribs, the rest of his body was still injured. She then started to feel guilty about not healing the rest of him. Wait. Why did she feel guilty? She didn't need to. He was lucky enough to get her to help him with his ribs.

"Hermione" said Harry, which startled her out of thought. She looked at him and gave an uneasy smile, to confirm she was listening. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine" she replied, maybe a little too quickly however, which didn't sound very convincing. "Why?"

"Well, it's just that you haven't spoken much…like there is something on your mind" said Harry, he always could figure Hermione out. Not being proud of it, Hermione shook her head to signal no there wasn't anything on her mind.

"I'm just…a little tired that's all"

"Tired?" Ron asked. "Since when do you get tired?"

"Believe it or not I am human, Ronald" Hermione spoke, a little snappish. Ron gave an unconvinced look before rejoining his brothers in judging the first years.

"You know you can tell us if there is anything wrong, Hermione" said Harry, not abandoning the subject.

"I know…but there is nothing wrong" Hermione felt more guilt from lying to her friend, but she couldn't tell them about helping Draco. Harry gave a small nod and resumed watching the first years get sorted, while Hermione looked at him, then sneakily looked over to Draco, which to her surprise had been looking at her. They quickly unlocked eyes and shifted awkwardly in their seats.

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><p>After the meal in the Great hall, all the houses went back to their Common room dormitories. All the Gryffindor's were settling in, Hermione thought reading a text book would keep her mind off of things, and maybe prevent anyone speaking with her. She couldn't handle lying to her friends anymore, so kept to herself.<p>

"Hey Hermione!" a thick Irish accent called from across the room, she mentally rolled her eyes and looked round to see Seamus Finnigan, along with Dean Thomas, Neville Longbottom and Harry and Ron, with Ron's sister Ginny. "We're gonna see if we can pull a prank of the twins, wanna help?"

That sounded like something fun, and something she would love to take part in, however she wasn't in a great mood to be focused on something like that, managing to pull a prank on the twins would be very difficult indeed. She just wasn't up for it.

"No thanks" she replied, looking down at her book that she pretended to read.

"Why not?" Ron whined. "Don't be a stick in the mud your whole life Hermione, have some fun-"

"I said no thanks!" she lost her temper, slamming her book shut and heading off out the Gryffindor common room. Everyone watched, shocked and confused by her sudden outburst.

"Why is she always snappy at me?" Ron pouted, which earned him a pat on his shoulder from Harry.

After storming out, she did feel guilty. She didn't need to snap like that, they only wanted her to join in on the fun. She gave a sigh and looked back, wondering if she should return. Then continued on walking forward, they probably didn't want her to join in now.

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><p>Draco, who had also left the Slytherin common room due to people keep asking him if he was alright and kept, to his misfortune, patting him on the back to say good to see him, was struggling to walk around the castle. He wanted time on his own, he tried to forget what his father had done to him, but every step was a painful reminder. "<em>That bastard<em>" he thought. "_How could he do this to me? … I guess I should be thankful, if that Mudblood hadn't found me on the train I would be a lot more worse than this…heck, I might not have even woken up"_

Being a Malfoy, he never thanked anyone before. Especially a Mudblood. He must have been in serious amount of pain to have actually thanked her. Either that, or this trauma has done some mental damage to his head.

Feeling unable to continue walking, he steadily took a seat on the corridor bench, groaning as he sat down.

Coincidentally, the corridor he took a seat in, happened to be the corridor Hermione had just turned to walk down. Not aware of his presence Hermione kept walking, clutching her book as she looked lost in thought until she saw Draco sat down, which oddly enough froze her in her tracks.

Draco wouldn't have even cared about the person walking by, but because she stopped he looked up at her. Instead of giving his usual scowl or evil smirk he would usually give, his face just stared blankly.

Hermione felt her throat go dry, and she licked her lips quickly, deciding whether to walk on by, however his seriously bruised face brought out the curiosity in her.

"What happened to you Malfoy?" she asked, her voice sounding a lot more concerned than she had hoped. Then there it was, his frown. "Right, go away Mudblood?" Hermione asked his usual statement. "Sorry for asking about your well being, I just won't bother in the future" she assured him, stubbornly.

"Why do you even care?" Draco asked. "You wouldn't normally care"

"How would you know?… Just because we have our differences does not mean that I would not show concern in someone when there are as badly injured as this" Hermione sounded almost offended at his judgemental behaviour.

"It's none of your concern though…you don't need to care. No one else does" Draco muttered the last part as he looked down, his face showing he hated the fact that no one did actually care.

Hermione noticed his face, and rolled her eyes before taking a seat next to him, which Draco thought was weird but then again, this conversation was weirdly pleasant than their usual ones.

"Mal-" she stopped and sighed. "Draco, you say no one else cares, but yet here I am showing you some concern and you are batting me away"

"Suppose you're right…maybe I'm just expecting someone better to care…no offence" Hermione was surprised he said no offence.

"Don't be stupid…of course you mean offence" Hermione laughed slightly, which to her surprise, he gave an amused look to. Not an evil smirk of fake smile, an genuine amused smile. "Maybe you should go see Madam Pomfrey? She could treat some of your cuts"

"I'm not going to that bloody nurse" Draco mumbled.

"What's worse Draco, walking around in so much pain you feel like you're going to collapse every 5 minutes, or going to the nurse and shattering your stupid pride?" Draco wanted to reply with some of his usual insults, but she did have a point. He ran his hand through his hair, which brought to Hermione's attention, had traces of blood stains on it. "Oh honestly Draco, your hair has blood on it" before Draco could even look up at some of the hair that fell before his eyes, Hermione had stood up and used one of her hands to grab Draco's wrist, gently pulling him up with her.

"What do you think you're doing?" he snapped, pulling his wrist out of her grasp harshly.

"I'm taking you to the hospital wing! You can't possibly walk around like this!" Hermione argued back.

"I don't need you or some stupid nurse's help!"

"Ha, that would be a little bit more convincing if you weren't barely standing!"

"Why don't you piss off!"

"Why don't you grow up!" their arguing had left them remaining silent and fuming at one another. However, seeing Draco in this state, she couldn't leave him. Hermione gave a sigh when she saw Draco wince at accidentally tapping a cut on his body. "Look, you don't have to tell me how you got like this…but please let me help you get better from it"

"Why? Why would you want to help me?" Draco asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

"Because" she began. "No wizard deserves this…even unpleasant ones like you"

"Oh thanks" he replied, sarcastically.

"Please Draco?" she held out her hand, Draco just stared at her hand while frowning at her. Looking at the sincere look on her face relaxed the expression on his, and he sighed holding out his arm letting her hold his wrist.

"Fine…" and with that, Hermione helped him down to the Hospital wing.

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><p><em>Well here is chapter 2 :) more to come tomorrow, keep reading to find out. Please leave a review and thankyouu for reading! xxx<em>


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

_Well it's 00:23am here so technically it's tomorrow from when I last updated lol Thankyouu so much for all the faves and alerts on the last chapter etc lol I really appreciate it. Here is another chapter for you all, please leave a review when you're done. Enjoy. xx_

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><p>After trekking through Hogwarts, Hermione finally managed to escort Draco to the Hospital wing. It was an awkward journey, but they managed.<p>

"Madam Pomfrey?" said Hermione, as she located her sat on the other side of the room at her desk in the Hospital wing. She looked up quickly, almost shocked. "Draco has some cuts that need treating"

"Merlin's beard" she got up from her chair. "You've only been here for 5 minutes, and already you've managed to beat yourself up" Draco flinched at the phrase 'beat up' which Hermione picked up on. "Well come on then Mr Malfoy, on the bed"

Hermione assisted Draco onto the bed, which he stubbornly protested about, Hermione sighed and left him to struggle himself. Madam Pomfrey approached with a couple of bottles of healing potions, then asked for Draco to remove his robes and shirt. Draco looked at Hermione sheepishly then rolled his eyes before removing his robes and shirt, revealing all his cuts and bruises. There it was again, Draco's six pack. Why did it hypnotise Hermione so much? However, noticing that it was decorated with his injuries caused Hermione to feel slightly depressed. She didn't know why, maybe it was because how vulnerable he must have seemed once getting this done to him. Assuming that he did get beaten up by someone, his wounds were too brutal not to have been man made.

"Now while the potions are working, it may sting a little" Madam Pomfrey warned whilst applying the potion on his wounds. Draco let out hissing sounds at the stinging pain it caused him. Hermione could barely watch, it was mentally upsetting.

A while after the potion was added, Madam Pomfrey left the two, as they both sat in an uncomfortable silence.

"You can go now" Draco spoke, his tone snappish, but normal in the tone of Malfoy.

"Must you be so rude?" Hermione asked. He looked her up and down arrogantly before looking across the room, despite this she leaned forward in her seat to talk softly to him. "Draco, I want to know how you got like this"

"It's none of your business!"

Hermione gave an irritable sigh, "If you tell me, then I will go"

"Ha, so you can tell your pathetic little friends? Let the entire school hear about how someone beat up Draco Malfoy? I don't think so"

"I'll have you know my friends are not pathetic! That's actually pretty rich seeing the brain dead people you associate with" Hermione was quick witted when it came to comebacks. Hermione looked at Draco's pissed off face and knew this was not the best way to get him to explain. "I wouldn't tell anyone anyways" she quickly added, refusing to look at him now.

"Why do you even want to know?"

"Because it seems very odd that you turn up at the train station in this state, any normal person would go straight to the hospital or at least clean themselves off before going out in public" through Hermione's speech, Draco had time to remember what actually happened to him. He could feel tears forming in his eyes, which wasn't good, not with a Gryffindor in the room, he quickly stopped thinking about it to halt the tears that were to come.

"You're wasting your time Granger" he sighed. "I'm not telling anyone what happened"

"But why?" Hermione asked quickly and in an much higher tone which startled Draco. "Why must you keep something like this to yourself? Why won't you let me help you?"

"There's nothing you can do! Just drop it!"

"How can I?…How can I just walk away and not worry?"

"Granger. Look who you're talking to. You could easily walk away and not worry" said Draco, Hermione saw in his eyes he was fighting back an urge to cry and was quite frankly stunned by it.

"Ok. You win" Hermione spoke. "I'll go" she got up and approached the exit, but before she did she turned back to face him. "Draco" he looked over to her by the door. "Please tell someone about this…you will feel much better if you're not alone"

"Will it get you off my case if I do?" Draco asked in a sigh, which Hermione nodded sweetly too. "Fine"

"Thank you…get well soon" Hermione quickly said, as almost guilty for saying it, but quickly rushed back to the Gryffindor common room. Leaving Draco alone with his thoughts in the Hospital wing for the rest of the night.

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><p>It was a sleepless night for Hermione, she couldn't stop tossing and turning about how Draco was feeling. It showed to, as she got up and headed to the Great hall for breakfast her eyes were dark from lack of sleep, which everyone noticed.<p>

"Rough night Granger?" Fred asked from across the table. Being as tired as she was, she only nodded as a reply.

"Where did you go anyway? Harry and I went looking for you to see if you were alright" said Ron, devouring some toast. Hermione had to think fast for an excuse. She couldn't possibly say she was with Draco in the Hospital wing.

"I was in the library" She said, spreading some butter onto her toast.

"Shoulda guessed" Ron laughed, which his twin siblings laughed along to.

"Hang on" Harry spoke, which panicked Hermione. "Doesn't the library close at 9pm?"

"N-No. Of course not, where did you hear that?"

"Professor Mcgonagall" Harry replied, as a matter of fact tone flowing with his words.

"Oh…well I was still in there and it didn't seem a problem"

"Why are you being so defensive?" asked Ron, spitting some consumed toast across the table in the process.

"I am not being defensive!" Hermione slammed her hands on the table. "You asked where I was and I told you"

"Okay, sorry" Ron gulped, holding his hands up defensively. Hermione observed faces from the other Gryffindor's looking at her, which made her feel embarrassed. So she continued spreading butter on her toast, discretely peering over to the Slytherin table, noticing that Draco was not there.

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><p><em>Right I've stopped there for today lol I will update tomorrow :) hope you enjoyed reading, please leave a review! thanks! xx<em>


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

_Okay, the next installment will be tomorrow lol sorry for update spams. I like writing this story lol and I'm thrilled people enjoy it. So I hope you enjoy this chapter too. xx_

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><p>There it was. The Hospital wing. Hermione past it many times that day and each time she contemplated whether to go in and check on Draco or not. She knew that if it was her in that position that Draco wouldn't have a care in the world. But she wasn't Draco. She did care. She stared at the Hospital wing, then decided to walk by again.<p>

"Have you noticed Hermione has been acting strange recently?" Harry commented, as he and Ron walked through the corridor to their class.

"What, even more than usual?" Ron joked, which Harry didn't approve of at that moment. Ron noticed then gave an awkward throat clearing cough. "Yeah, I have"

"I wonder why she won't tell us"

"Maybe it's a girls thing" Ron shrugged as they entered their class.

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><p>Draco, who also had a sleepless night, for many reasons, mainly because of the potion taking affect on his wounds, had made a full recovery.<p>

"Be more careful Mr Malfoy" Madam Pomfrey called out as he left the Hospital wing. Draco gave a nod then made his way down the corridor. A thought that ran through his mind also during the night, was what Hermione had asked him to do.

_"Please tell someone about this…you will feel much better if you're not alone"_

The big question now was, who could he tell? He suspiciously eyed everyone that walked by and thought who could he possibly trust with a secret like his?

Unfortunately he couldn't think of an answer right then, he checked his timetable and noticed he was already late for his class, a frustrated sigh escaped him and he quickly made his way down to the classroom.

In potions class, Harry, Ron and a very quiet Hermione were sat listening to Professor Snape with the rest of the class.

"Can anyone tell me what one must add to this potion to make it, turn a light shade of lavender?" Snape asked in his usual tone. Everyone expected Hermione to be the first to raise her hand, even Snape was surprised that she didn't. "Well well Miss Granger, usually you are the first to raise your hand or even shout out an answer, perhaps we aren't such an insufferable know-it-all, after all"

"Sorry Sir" she replied, thinking did she really need to be sorry seeing as she just got insulted in front of the class. As he was about to say the answer, the door to the class opened causing everyone to turn and face Draco, who had just walked in.

Hermione could have sworn her heart skipped a beat when he walked in the room. Was that normal? Maybe it was because she was happy to see him up and walking normally again.

"Mr Malfoy" Snape started. "A bit late, aren't we?"

"Sorry Sir…was in the Hospital wing" He looked down when he spoke, feeling ashamed by the fact he had been in there.

"I see" said Snape. "Take a seat"

Draco felt all the eyes in the class on him as he walked across the class and sat down. His eyes immediately landed on Hermione, who he caught looking at him. Once Snape had begun talking again, her attention was torn away from him.

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><p>Once the class ended everyone rushed out of the door, Hermione walked behind Harry and Ron not fully aware of what they were talking about. She turned to see Draco the last person to leave the class and walk off down the corridor.<p>

"You guys go on…I just remembered I need to do something" she interrupted Harry and Ron's conversation and headed off down the corridor. Confused by her sudden departure the boys just shrugged and walked off back to the Gryffindor common room.

Draco was lost in thought as he walked down the corridor.

"Draco!" his name was called, which brought his attention to Hermione was walking quickly towards him from behind. She took a second to catch her breath before asking. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine" Draco replied, sounding confused by why she asked him.

"I take it you've made a full recovery then?"

"Physically yes"

"And…have you told anyone-?"

"About how it happened?" Draco finished, which she nodded to. "Give me a chance Granger, only just got out of the Hospital wing"

"Right…"

"Will that be all?" his arrogance started taken over. Hermione assumed that was all, however she felt like something kept her standing there. Draco took her silence as a yes and began walking off, however Hermione didn't want it to be over, so said the first thing that was in her mind.

"Was it a family member?" Draco froze in his steps, and turned sharply.

"What?" he snapped.

"That beat you up…was it a family member?" Hermione asked, showing no fear, despite Draco having the most intimidating face. "I'm sorry…that was personal…forget I asked"

"Yes. It was"

"Like I said, forget I asked" Hermione spoke, about to turn and walk off.

"No" said Draco, which stopped her. "I meant, it was a family member"

Hermione was shocked, not even by the fact it was a family member but by him actually confessing to it, she turned to face him once more.

"That's horrible" Hermione was at a loss for words, she could only imagine it was his father, having not seeing his mother and doesn't have anything to judge on.

"Yes. And I would appreciate it if you didn't go blabbing it about"

"I won't" and with that Draco began to walk off once more. "Draco" she called out once more which started to irritate him. He turned to face her, and was suddenly shocked by the impact of her embrace upon him. She had hugged him.

"What are you doing?" he snapped in her hold. Hermione's friendly embrace tightened before she let go and she looked into his eyes.

"No matter how much we hate each other. There is no way I believe you deserved that beating" she then looked down, embarrassed by his eyes staring into hers. "There is a vulnerable side to you, and that is what I have sympathy for, so if that side ever wants to talk. Please do" not letting him get a final word in, Hermione walked off down the corridor. Her heartbeat racing.

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><p><em>Well, hope you liked this chapter (: please leave a review and thankyouu for reading xx<em>


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

_It's Midnight. So technically tomorrow from last installment lol. Please leave a review when you're done, and enjoy! xx_

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><p>A couple of days had passed since Hermione spoke to Draco. She barely even saw him after that, sure, a couple of times passing in the corridors and in some classes, but too much of crowded areas to actually converse with him. This upset her a little, as she did wish to know how he was coping, however, she had managed to clear suspicion among Harry, Ron and the others, as she brightened her attitude towards them.<p>

Draco, who had also been thinking about the conversation and the hug Hermione gave him, had also come back with his usual attitude with his 'friends'. For some reason, he had started to consider telling someone about what happened, but it was hopeless to find someone trustworthy of telling. This frustrated him.

He sat on the bench in the corridor and took a few minutes to go through the list of people he knew. Mentally crossing out the people he knew he couldn't trust in telling.

"Why is this so frustrating?" he spoke to himself. "If Granger hadn't talked me into this I wouldn't be going through this-" he paused. "Granger"

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><p>It was dinner time, and all staff and students were gathered in the Great hall for their meals. For some reason, Draco was disappointed that Hermione had her back facing him from where she was sat. He wanted her attention.<p>

"Goyle, do you have any paper?"

"No, why would I have paper?" he snickered, which was a very good point. He never had paper even in classes.

"I have paper Draco" said Pansy Parkinson, who kindly passed a bit of paper across the table. "Here's a quill too" she offered which Draco took both.

"Thanks" he muttered, using the quill to begin writing a message.

"Why do you need it, Draco?" Pansy then asked, as he gained her curiosity.

"Going to send a little message to those pathetic Gryffindor's" he replied, adding his arrogant tone to convince them. Pansy nodded and continued eating while Goyle began seeing what 'evil' message Draco was writing, but before he could see, Draco quickly covered it up. "Do you mind?" he snapped, which Goyle backed off to.

Once he was finished, he fashioned it into a origami bird, and blew it to cause it to flap all the way over to the Gryffindor table, to flap in front of Hermione.

She was startled by it at first, then looked back to see where it came from. She immediately saw Draco's face, who raised his eyebrows to her quickly, to confirm he was the one who sent it. With that, Hermione opened the note quickly, and read the words. "_Nice handwriting_" Hermione thought to herself, a little shocked by it. The note read;

_I need to talk to you, in private. _

_-Draco_

"What's that?" Ron asked, looking at it from next to her. Hermione quickly scrunched it up before it was readable to Ron.

"Oh nothing…just a small immature note from Slytherin"

"Gits" Ron muttered under his breath looking back at the Slytherin table then back to Harry.

"Yes…would you excuse me?" Hermione got up, looked back at Draco as she turned and headed for the exit.

Draco watched her and estimated a perfect amount of time to get up and walk after her without looking suspicious. Once he did he found her stood behind one of the statues.

"What is it?" Hermione whispered as he stood beside her.

"I need to talk to you" he whispered back, checking that no students discovered them.

"Well yes, I got that from the note" said Hermione. "What about?"

"I've been doing some thinking…about what you said with the whole finding someone to talk to thing" he checked once more to make sure they still had privacy.

"Go on" Hermione urged.

"Well…among the people I associate with. You seem like the only person who would actually be interested" Draco said while looking down.

"I see"

"It's only because you've proven that you can keep a secret…" Draco wanted to carry on the sentence and Hermione knew it, but he didn't.

"I will keep it a secret Draco. But please keep your arrogant attitude to a minimum"

"Can't make any promises" he smirked while Hermione rolled her eyes.

"We're going to have to plan this through…I mean, so people don't get too suspicious" Hermione commented, reaching for her timetable.

"Good idea" Draco replied, looking at her timetable very closely stood beside her. Hermione noticed this and looked up into his eyes as they studied the paper. Her heart began to race…Hermione knew this wasn't normal now. It wasn't until his eyes locked with hers that she quickly diverted her gaze back to the timetable.

After a moment of preparing appropriate days and times, Hermione told him where to meet her.

"You sure you won't be followed?" Draco asked. "I know how Weasel and Potter follow you around like lost mutts"

"They do not!" Hermione snapped. "And yes, I am sure I won't be followed at these times. Just make sure you turn up"

"Alright" said Draco, then gasped quickly when he saw Pansy exiting the Great hall. Then subconsciously pushed Hermione against the wall behind the statue, his body pressing against her. Hermione was too stunned to say anything. However, she did feel her face heat up and she knew it was turning bright red. Draco waited until Pansy was gone before backing off Hermione.

"Sorry" he whispered, then noticed how red her face had turned. "What's with your face?"

"Nothing" Hermione said quickly and defensively. "I will see you later, goodbye" she quickly walked off, as Draco watched her, confused.

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><p><em>Okay. Depends when I can write another chapter. I can't confirm when I will update just yet lol nothing drastic like a month or anything lol maximum two days :') lol Please leave a review. Thankyouu for reading. xx<em>


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

_No comment lol. Enjoy._

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><p>Today was the day. The first day of Hermione and Draco meeting up to talk. Hermione was nervous but she kept thinking to herself, why? She had begun questioning herself recently if she actually started growing feelings for the Slytherin boy, but told herself that was a load of rubbish.<p>

The time was 7pm. Harry and Ron were in the Gryffindor Common room with the others, and Hermione had planned to meet Draco in her usual library time, which the boys both knew was what she liked to do on her own. So didn't question her departure from everyone else.

She couldn't go to the library however, to meet Draco. Just in case the boys did happen to come and get her for something and caught her with him. No, she had arranged a nice quiet spot where no one ever went. Perfect for the two to talk.

Hermione found herself arriving at a small grass patch by the water, just outside the castle. Draco hadn't arrived yet, so she sat found a spot on the ground and took a seat. Thankfully when she left, she brought a book with her to keep her entertain in situations such as this.

Unfortunately, she had found herself waiting longer than she had hoped. It was now 7:45 and no sign of Draco. Not only that, it was starting to get dark. Giving one more scan around the empty area Hermione gave a sigh.

"Should have known better really" she told herself, getting up off the ground, dusting the broken bits of grass off that back of her coat. She began to slowly walk away, when she bumped into Draco as he came round the corner to the grassy area.

"Sorry I'm late" he spoke normally. Not even sounding sorry for being late at all.

"Where were you?" Hermione snapped. Draco was shocked by her tone and frowned, about to answer. "Never mind! Just sit down. Look at the time, we could have talked about so much by now!"

"I'm probably going to regret this whole decision about talking to you aren't I?" said Draco, as he took a seat where Hermione had previously sat.

"Not if you're on time" replied Hermione, as she took a seat next to him. "Now, lets get started" she adjusted herself on the ground so she could comfortably listen to Draco. Who only sighed and observed out to the water.

"It's cold" he commented, scrunching his face up.

"Yes but, that's not what we're here to talk about"

"Why are we here?" Draco asked. "Couldn't you have found a warmer place to meet up?"

"No, not on short notice. Would you please stop changing the subject!" Hermione began loosing her patience.

"How do you expect me to concentrate when I'm cold?"

Hermione gave a huge frustrated sigh and removed her warm coat and threw it in his possession.

"Stop being such a baby Draco" she rearranged her scarf so that it was keeping her lap warm. She then saw Draco inspect the coat whilst turning his nose up at it. "Well, if you don't like it, give it back!"

"Only if we can go inside" said Draco.

"We might be seen!"

"Then no coat for Granger" he held the coat far from her reach.

"Draco" she said sternly. "Give. It. Back"

"Granger" he repeated her tone. "No"

"Right" Hermione stood up stubbornly and began walking off.

"Where're you going?" Draco called out after her. However she ignored and kept walking, Draco got up with her coat in hand and rushed beside her. "So we're finding a warmer place?"

"No. I'm going back to the Gryffindor common room" she replied harshly, not giving him the satisfaction of looking at him.

"What? Just because you can't take a joke?"

"No! Because I am trying to be supportive to your problem, but I can't do that unless you tell me" Hermione stared into his eyes. Draco gave a sigh.

"I have no idea how you manage to get through to me, Granger" Draco laughed, and handed her back her coat, while she took it back. He looked down to the ground, a cheerless expression forming on his face "The person who beat me up...it was my father"

"I knew it" Hermione gasped at the sudden fact she had been told.

"If you knew then why are we here?"

"Well, I had my suspicions then" Hermione corrected herself. "Why did he do it?"

Draco cleared his throat awkwardly then avoided looking at her for a moment, she could tell it was hard for him to say why his father beat him up. "H-He didn't just beat me up" Draco stuttered.

"Oh gosh…he didn't" Hermione signalled something that freaked Draco out and disgusted him.

"Don't be absurd! Of course he didn't rape me!" Hermione felt embarrassed for asking, and gave a nervous smile with a shrug. "He used the Crucio curse on me" Hermione covered her mouth with her hands in shock.

"That's barbaric!" Hermione exclaimed. "He should not be aloud to get away with this!" she began to storm off in rage, ranting on about the subject. However, something Draco didn't expect. Hermione came back to him and quickly embraced him once again. "You poor thing"

"Funny how you can say that about someone who calls you Mudblood" Draco laughed, awkward about her arms being wrapped round him.

"As far as I'm concerned. That part of you may have deserved it" Hermione confessed. "But, I've seen a different side of you…and I know that side didn't deserve having that-" Hermione choked slightly. "Unforgivable curse used on you" Hermione could feel tears welling up in the corner of her eyes, and they were threatening to fall. Senses this, Draco rolled his eyes arrogantly, but for some reason, felt the need to wrap his arms round her as well. So he did so, which shocked Hermione. They both were hugging one another. Since when did this happen?

"I'll" he gave an awkward clear of the throat, before pulling out of the embrace. "Tell you more next time…not really in the mood for sharing right now"

"Okay" Hermione wiped the corner of her eyes. "I understand, we can talk more about it next time" Draco nodded and began walking with her back to the castle. Curiously, fighting an urge to embrace her once more. What was happening to him?

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><p><em>My friend wanted me to update lol I couldn't say no :') please leave a review and thankyouu for reading. xx<em>


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

_Hi, sorry for not updating in a couple of days, been busy lol well, here is the next installment, hope you enjoy! Thankyouu for all those who have reviewed, faved and alerted so far. Glad you like the story. xx_

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><p>Everyday. Every single day. That's how much Draco had begun thinking about Hermione. Her understanding and caring attitude was alien to him. Even his own Mother wasn't like that towards him, he knew the reason for that was of his Father, however.<p>

His Father. The reason he had started speaking to Hermione. If his Father hadn't beaten him up and used the Crucio curse on him, he and Hermione would still be at war with one another. Should he be…thankful? No! That would be absurd.

His and Hermione's next meeting together was tomorrow evening. However, Draco felt he couldn't wait that long. He wanted to see her, he wanted the caring behaviour. It was like a craving.

There was a problem with meeting her though, he now had to explain why it was his Father did those things to him. It was because he wanted him to become a Death Eater. If he told that to Hermione, she would most likely turn him and his Father in. A betrayal to his own Father. How would he live with himself if he did that?

The urge of wanting to see Hermione, and the fear of betraying his Father made Draco feel nauseous. He wanted to be sick. What could he do?

He couldn't bare it, from wandering the corridors he ran to the boys bathroom and threw up in one of the stalls.

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><p>Hermione and Ron were wandering the corridors together, seeing as they had a free period. Harry elected to stay behind and help one of the Professor's with clearing up the classrooms.<p>

"Harry's mental for staying behind" Ron laughed.

"He was being polite" Hermione defended. "Something _you_ should perhaps try more often, Ronald" her tone was playful.

"I am polite!" he snapped back.

"Okay Ron" she laughed, which Ron even smiled along to. She had a point.

As they walked, Draco came out of the boys bathroom right in front of them. Which caused them to all engage in an awkward stare off. There was the face he wanted to see, however there was a face that he didn't particularly want to see also. To not blow cover, he had to give his usual arrogant look before storming off around them. Guilt consuming him as he did so. He had hoped that Hermione knew he wasn't being rude to her.

"Malfoy's been acting strange" Roy commented. A little unsure of why nothing was said.

"When is he not?" Hermione replied, feeling guilty about saying so, but needed to clear the suspicion. Even though it wasn't hard to say so at the arrogant face he had, that was the face she didn't like.

"Suppose, but, he's not acting…well, Malfoy-ish"

"That's ridiculous. Of course he's acting Malfoy-ish, and besides, I for one and happy to be rid of the Mudblood insults" she confessed as they continued walking.

"Yeah, suppose so"

"Oh!" Hermione gasped. "I just remembered something, I have to go. I will be back" before Ron could get a word in, Hermione had darted off down the corridor they just came down. Not thinking anything of it, Ron just carried on walking.

Hermione had observed Draco's face well enough to see that something was wrong. He was pale, and fragile looking. Something must be on his mind, and she wanted to help. Running long enough, she managed to catch up with him in the corridor he had turned down.

"Draco!" she called out to stop him. He did so without argument, or a look of confusion. He was happy to see her face once again. "What's wrong? You look ill" not the nicest compliment in the world. Nonetheless, he was happy she showed some concern. However, he wasn't too happy that he now had to think of an excuse to tell her.

"Nothing, just feeling slightly sick" he replied, not necessarily lying as that was how he felt like.

"Oh no, you should rest. You do actually look a bit tired, have you not been sleeping?" Draco just shrugged as a reply, which Hermione thought was oddly adorable. She gave a sigh and looked him the eyes. "Why did you have to be so arrogant at the beginning of Hogwarts? That way, I could easily help you in this situation. I'm tired of having to sneak around to talk with you"

What she said upset Draco slightly, that was how he is. Sure, he was being nice to her, but that was because she was doing the same. No need to insult him right in front of him.

"Sorry" he muttered. His tone made Hermione panic slightly. Did she insult him?

"Don't be sorry…that was rude of me" she admitted. "You act arrogant, but you're actually not…are you?" her smile made him feel embarrassed and he laughed nervously to himself, avoiding eye contact.

"You can tell yourself that" he teased.

"But you're not" she played along. "Are you?" she poked his arm playfully, and kept repeating this action until she accidentally got his side, which he flinched from. "Sorry" Hermione giggled. "Forgot you were ticklish"

"How did you - oh right. Second year in the duelling class right?" Draco asked, recalling the time Harry used the Rictusempra spell on him. Quite an embarrassing moment at the time. Hermione nodded and smiled innocently, which made Draco melt.

"Draco…I was wondering, where did you plan on spending Christmas this year?" Christmas? That was a long time from then. However, she did have a good point. Where would he spend it? He couldn't possibly go home after what happened. He never thought about it. "I take it by the long silence, you don't know?"

"No, not yet" he said. "Why?"

"Well, I thought you might have spent it here…given your situation, but maybe, before then. We could actually tell people how about our friendship?" was she serious? Tell people about their friendship? "Then maybe, I could convince Ron to let you spend Christmas with us"

Draco was stunned, how on earth would he answer that? If was sweet that she thought of their friendship lasting that long, but the Weasley's would never accept him in their house in an million years.

"I don't think I would be welcomed" he admitted. Which brought a look of disappointment on her face. "But thanks for the offer"

"That's okay…see you tomorrow" she gave a small smile and walked off.

Had he upset her? That was the last thing he wanted. She had been so nice to him and now he has let her down. Wait, since when was that ever an issue? It was at that moment. Draco could deny it no longer. He had grown feelings for Hermione Granger.

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><p><em>Hope you liked this installment (: more on the way tomorrow. Please leave a review, and thankyouu for reading. xx<em>


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

_Here is the next installment. Hope you enjoy! xx_

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><p>The next day, Draco was worried about seeing Hermione. He was still feeling nervous if he had upset her, which was very strange considering that in the past he wouldn't have had a care in the world, in fact he took pleasure in upsetting her. Even wishing for her death during the second year when the Chamber of Secrets had been opened. However, it had been nearly 3 years since then. Things had changed.<p>

The time was 7pm, time to go and meet up with Hermione. Draco observed himself in the mirror, apart from looking pale from his lack of sleep and constant sickness feeling, he thought he looked okay…oh who was he kidding? He looked a bloody mess. Despite many attempts to make his hair look acceptable to his standards.

He started thinking about yesterday again, how playful they were together…he didn't usually act like that. Hermione brought out a side of him that even he didn't know about.

He then started to make his way down to the meeting point. This time, he brought his warmer jacket so not to complain about the cold and have a repeat of the first time. He proceeded down the corridors, thinking up conversations he and Hermione could discuss.

Not even expecting to bump into Hermione as he walked around the corner.

"Oh! Draco!" she said, sounding very surprised. "Sorry, I didn't expect you to be here. How are you?"

"F-Fine thanks" he stuttered. "You?"

"I'm good too thanks" there was an even bigger awkwardness about them two, even more so than before. They wondered why that was, although both had an idea. Just wasn't sure on how the other felt about it.

"Should we go to our spot?" asked Draco, regretting referring it as their spot. Made it sound like they were together.

"Actually, two girls from Gryffindor talked about going down there tonight" there went that idea. "So I was thinking about going to another place no one else rarely goes"

"Oh okay…where is that?"

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><p>They both walked down the hill that lead to Hagrid's house. Was she mad? Going there certainly wasn't private.<p>

"This isn't a good idea" said Draco.

"Don't worry, Hagrid isn't here. He went away for a week"

"Why?"

Hermione had a guilty look, almost as if she had already said too much. "I'm not aloud to tell you…he asked me not to say anything" Draco gave a small nod of approval. Letting her off. Although he had every right to maker her tell him, like she is doing with him. However, he didn't.

They both found a spot to sit down and did so, Draco found himself getting lost in thought of how pretty she was looking.

"So, lets get down to business. Why did your father do this to you?"

He couldn't say it. He couldn't risk the fact his family were death eaters get around. Even if he were to ask her to keep it a secret. He couldn't let anyone know.

"Listen, Hermione, I can't really-" he paused when he heard Hermione gasp.

"What?" Draco asked, sounding nervous.

"Y-You called me Hermione" she sounded shocked, but looked pleased. Draco didn't really think much of it when he said it, but he did, he called her by her first name.

"So I did" he smiled.

"I-I am a little shocked" she confessed in a small laugh. "I didn't even think you knew what it was for a moment"

"Give me some credit" said Draco. "I do pay attention"

"I know, but…well it's not important but, thank you" she smiled, and hugged him from the side. Did she need to be thankful? No matter, he got a hug from it, so he certainly wasn't complaining. Strangely, she didn't let go. "I still can't believe that your Father would treat you like that…he clearly has not seen this side of you" her words warmed up Draco's heart. "How could anyone be so mean to someone so vulnerable?"

Draco then felt himself becoming choked up. The memory of what his Father did to him and the fact Hermione was saying such nice things about him got him feeling very emotional. He had to stop this. He was a man. He couldn't cry in front of people. However, his heavy breathing started giving it away. Hermione had noticed, and looked up from the hugging to notice tears in his eyes.

"Draco?" she whispered. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine" he quickly used his hand to cover his eyes.

"Let it out Draco, don't hold it in" Draco was glad she gave him permission to let out his tears without judgement. So he let out small soft sobs, keeping his eyes out of her sight. Hermione was soon feeling choked up also, he had been driven to tears, no doubt from the memory. No one deserved that. Not even Draco, the boy she had grown feelings for, which she recently admitted to herself.

His face, his crying vulnerable face. Hermione, found herself removing his hand away from his eyes, which she knew would cause him to face her. She used that opportunity to press her lips against his. Draco's heartbeat accelerated. He and Hermione Granger were kissing.

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><p><em>Oooooooh lol hope you liked this chapter, more tomorrow (: please leave a review and thankyouu for reading. xx<em>


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

_Another chapter (: hope you enjoy! Please leave a review at the end xx_

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><p>They had kissed. Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger had kissed. From enemies to … well, much more than that.<p>

Hermione had broken the kiss, and almost looked very shocked about what she had just done. Draco stared into her eyes, seeing her face turn bright red.

"S-Sorry-" said Hermione, looking down to the ground. "I didn't mean t-" she was cut off by his lips pressed against hers once more, like him, she didn't pull back from the kiss, until he himself broke it.

"Please…don't be sorry" he spoke, his face inches her own.

"This is wrong" Hermione whispered. "Draco, we can't do this" he words grew louder, his hand in contact with her face freaked her out. Which lead her to getting up and running away.

"Hermione?" Draco called out after out, shocked about her behaviour. She didn't stop however, she kept running until she disappeared over the hill. Annoyed by what just happened, he slammed his fist on the ground next to him, not hard enough to do damage, but enough to let out his rage.

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><p>A week had passed since the kissing incident. By the looks of it, Hermione was still dwelling upon the matter. Draco saw her sneaking glances over at him during classes, and passing in the corridors. However, Draco felt withdrawn from her. He had upset her in some way that day and didn't want to do it again. He didn't like feeling guilty, so he thought it was best to just leave the situation alone.<p>

"Draco. You have been awfully quiet recently. Something wrong?" Pansy Parkinson asked her fellow Slytherin whilst they were sat in their common room. To Draco, she was a class mate, despite her intentions of wanting to become something more. That annoyed him about her, he was only happy with them being friends.

The fact she asked what was wrong, reminded him of Hermione, and how concerned she was when she asked. From Pansy it seemed like another attempt to get him to go out with her, but when Hermione said it, it was more genuine. Like she wanted to know what was wrong.

"I'm fine, Pansy" he replied.

"Draco, I know you" said Pansy. He couldn't even begin to explain how much she didn't know him. "Your behaviour is unusual. Please tell me what's wrong"

"I said it's nothing, Pansy!" Draco snapped, a small glare pierced into her eyes.

"Fine" she backed off. "Draco, I am your friend remember. Please feel like you can talk to me when something is wrong" Draco let out a sigh.

"Okay…I will keep that in mind"

"Good. Now get some sleep, you look exhausted" said Pansy, getting up off the sofa and heading for the girls bedroom.

"Draco" Blaise's voice spoke, which he suddenly appeared next to Draco. "Some girl wants to speak to you"

A girl? Which girl could that be? He immediately thought of Hermione, but she wouldn't have openly asked Blaise, another Slytherin to go fetch him would she? He wasn't sure.

"A girl?"

"Yeah. One of the Gryffindor's" he replied. "Think you're in trouble. It's one of the bossy girls"

Not really knowing what to expect, Draco got up and exited the Slytherin common room, to see Hermione standing outside. He was shocked. She did ask a Slytherin to fetch him. Why would she do that?

"Draco" she began. "Follow me" she began walking off, not even letting Draco get a word in, so he followed, making sure no one was following.

"What's this all about?" Draco asked, catching up with her. "You asking people to summon me? Since when was our friendship going public?"

"Since I said so" said Hermione. No hesitation with that answer.

"Okay?"

"Look, we've been talking, we have hugged, we have even kissed…so I have been thinking, how could we possibly keep this a secret any longer?" Hermione explained, stopping in the corridor.

"Quite easily?" said Draco.

"Draco, don't you see? Our feelings for one another are only going to develop further. Soon we won't be able to keep the act up, our feelings will get in the way"

She had a very good point. Still, they couldn't just openly admit what was going on between them.

"Suppose you're right…"

"I usually am" said Hermione, confidently. "That is what had me troubled. So, I'm sorry for storming off on you last week"

Draco had been hurt from when she had done that, but if he said he didn't forgive her, he might risk losing her. For good. He didn't want that.

"That's fine" he lied, smiling at her for full effect. Hermione smiled warmly and embraced him, a week without her hugs made this one feel even more special.

"So…I guess we can speak to each other…in public now" Hermione smiled. Draco grew nervous at that thought…what would everyone think? Or worse. What if his Father found out?

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><p><em>Hope you liked this chapter (: I won't be updating for 2 days due to me going to London. So please leave a review and thanks for reading xx<em>


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

_Sorry for the lack of updates. My internet has been down for a week after my trip to London lol but here is the next installment :) hope you enjoy! xx_

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><p>"So how do you want to go about this?" asked Hermione, as she and he walked down the corridor.<p>

"How do you mean?"

"Well, do you want to just come out and openly say it in front of everyone? Or just let them find out naturally?"

"I suppose we could let them find out naturally" Draco shrugged. "That way it would lower of the awkwardness"

"Yes…but the confrontation will be horrible, can you imagine?" Hermione asked, grasping his arm gently. Draco hadn't thought of that, the amount of questions and even threats he was going to receive from other Gryffindors, and the fact Slytherin wouldn't be so accepting to Hermione either.

"I don't want to do it" declared Draco.

"W-What? What do you mean you don't want to do it?" asked Hermione, her brows furrowed in confusion.

"I know Slytherin. They are not the nicest of people, being one of them I know that for a fact" said Draco. "And I certainly don't want a beating from your friends"

"If we calmly explain the situation to them, I'm sure they -"

"Will find you crazy?" Draco finished for her, which Hermione frowned at.

"No! Well…maybe. I don't know. We won't know till we find out will we?" Hermione gently held Draco's hand, which he didn't protest to. "I really want to do this, Draco,…I'm tired of keeping this all a secret"

"I know" Draco sighed. "I'm just thinking about you, believe it or not"

Hermione smiled at him, before pecking his cheek.

"I would have never of thought we would ever be this close before" confessed Hermione. "What with all the Mudblood talk and all"

"Yeah" Draco coughed awkwardly. "Bad times…I'm really glad we are…well, as we are now"

"Really?" asked Hermione, almost shocked.

"Yeah, why that tone?"

"Why would a pure blood like you be so happy being with a half blood like me?" Hermione asked, jokingly.

"Because," he grasped her hand tightly. "You're the only one who cares about my existence…in a way that I've never seen but am really…" the fact Draco was talking this way, made him picture his Father, and what he would say or do to him if he ever saw it. He immediately let go of Hermione's hand in a moments panic.

"Draco?" said Hermione in an concerned tone.

"Sorry…I can't let this get around…"

"Why?" Hermione began to get annoyed. "Are you embarrassed?" that statement shocked Draco slightly. "Too high and mighty to be seen with a Mudblood?"

"How dare you" said Draco. "_You_ of all people assuming I am that shallow, has nothing I've said made any difference in your opinion of me? Has this all been an act?"

"Draco, stop being so dramatic! I just want to know why you don't want people to know, because that is the only reason I could see big enough to -"

"My Father! Alright?" Draco snapped, harshly looking away from her. Hermione blinked in shock, she really didn't think of him as an issue, thinking about it however, that did make sense in Draco's situation. "My Father…would kill me, if I associated with a Half blood, let alone be ... "

"Be what, Draco?"

Draco couldn't finish his sentence, he turned and faced Hermione, approaching her and wrapping his arms around her. Hermione didn't argue, and returned the embrace.

"Can we just…wait a bit?"

"Of course…I'm sorry for being so selfish. It needs to be a joint decision" said Hermione, looking up at Draco's face while he looked at hers. Their lips meeting for a small kiss.

"What the -?" an Irish voice came from down the corridor. Both broke the kiss and turned quickly to see Seamus Finnigan standing, mouth gaped open, staring at the two.

"Seamus!" Hermione gasped. "I … we were just…" she knew that nothing could explain what he had just seen, Seamus' face didn't budge from the stunned expression he had.

"What are you doing, Hermione?" Seamus managed to ask. "That's Malfoy!"

"Oh, well what do you know, so it is" Hermione replied sarcastically. "Glad you were here, or I would never had noticed that"

"But…you were…kissing?" Seamus' face looked disgusted.

"I know…but Seamus, please don't tell anybody" Hermione begged. Even Draco's face looked desperate.

"Are ya outta ya mind? Of course I'm gonna tell somebody! Everyone needs to hear about this!" replied Seamus, about to walk off but was stopped when his body froze on the spot, unable to move his body and he fell to the ground harshly.

"Sorry Seamus," said Hermione, as she lowered her wand from the small curse she used on him.

"Wow…" said Draco. "You do that to your friends? I would really hate to see what you do to your enemies"

"Well, in some cases I punch them…you had a sample of that in our third year" Hermione smiled, teasingly. The memory came flooding back to Draco, as he held his nose, recalling the harsh pain she inflicted on his nose back then.

"What do we do about Finnigan?" he then asked, walking over to the frozen Irish boy on the ground.

"He knows about us…and once the curse wears off he will most likely go blabbing" said Hermione, crouching down beside Seamus, and rubbing his frozen arm as a small apology.

"So…we have to keep him with us?" Draco suggested, joking about the matter.

"I guess so…I could use Obliviate, but I don't want him to forget _everything_…we'll have to wait to the curse wears off and hopefully convince him not to tell"

Draco rolled his eyes.

"Oh great"

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><p><em>Hope you liked this chapter, more to come soon. Please leave a review and thankyouu for reading! xx<em>


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

_Okay, so some people got confused by the last chapter and I am sorry for that lol it wasn't intentional. Hermione wanted to tell people, but Draco was too worried about his Dad somehow finding out, so asked her to keep it a secret a while longer, respecting what he had asked, Hermione was forced to freeze Seamus in attempt of stopping the secret from getting out too early lol. Hope that cleared things up, and I hope you enjoy this chapter._

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><p>The journey from the corridor to the second floor girls bathroom, where Draco and Hermione were taking the frozen Seamus, was silent. If either said anything it would only give more blackmail privileges' to Seamus if he didn't agree with not telling others about them.<p>

Once they reached the bathroom, they gently placed Seamus on the ground. Draco felt slightly embarrassed about being in a female bathroom, and kept his scanning to a minimum.

"What now?" he asked, watching Seamus' eyes frantically shift around the room, or from what he could see in his frozen position.

"I don't know … I think we've gotten ourselves into a slight pickle," Hermione commented.

"_Draco_!" a high pitched voice came from one of the cubicles. Moaning Myrtle's face appearing above one of the cubicles. _"Is that Draco Malfoy, I hear?"_ her high pitched giggle was cringe worthy.

"Hello, Myrtle," Draco spoke, sounding a tad awkward about it.

"You know Myrtle?" asked Hermione, sounding confused.

"We got talking last year," replied Draco. Suddenly Myrtle ended up right in Hermione's face, startling her a great deal when she turned around.

"_Why wouldn't Draco know me? Let's just assume no one knows or cares about Myrtle because she's a ghost!"_ Myrtle sneered. Hermione looked down awkwardly, avoiding an argument with her.

"Could you give us a minute, Myrtle?" Draco asked, politely, bringing a smile on Myrtle's face.

_"Anything for you, Draco,"_ she said, dreamily. _"Don't forget to visit,"_ and with one more giggle, she disappeared.

Draco smiled as the Ghost disappeared then noticed Hermione's expression had changed. Draco was no fool, he knew exactly why she had that expression.

"You're not jealous are you?" he asked.

"Of course not! Why would I be jealous?" Hermione snapped. Draco kept his smug expression while shrugging, Hermione blushed slightly at his expression then quickly turned her attention back to Seamus. "Seamus? Can you hear me OK?" Hermione spoke quietly. Seamus made a muffled sound as his lips were still frozen together, answering her question. "Good. Now, what you have seen must be kept a secret okay? At least for now."

"I know I've been … unpleasant to you and other Gryffindor's in the past…but if you could keep this to yourself, Finnigan, that would really be appreciated," said Draco, sounding desperate. Hermione held out her wand and used it to unfreeze Seamus' lips.

"Are ye' both serious?" asked Seamus. "Ye' both going out?" both Hermione and Draco exchanged a glance before nodding. "Bit of an odd match, don't ye' reckon?"

"Not for us … I've seen something in Draco that no one else has, and I like it," said Hermione, embarrassed, but meaningful as she looked a Draco. She then turned back down to Seamus as she heard him sigh.

"If ye' really don't want me to say anything, then I won't … but, Malfoy?" Seamus asked again, not being able to register it.

"Yes," said Hermione, looking into Draco's eyes. "Draco," she leant in and they both pressed their lips together.

"OK! I don't need to see that, I believe ye' now," Seamus shut his eyes, and complained. "What's in for me if I don't say?"

"Well, what do you want?" Hermione asked.

"Dunno, something good though," he smiled cheekily. Hermione rolled her eyes then saw the desperation in Draco's eyes.

"Seamus, I will have to remove your memory if there is a risk of you saying -"

"I will buy you anything you want," Draco interrupted. Both Hermione and Seamus were shocked.

"Really?" Seamus asked, gleefully. "Like what?"

"Anything, as long as it is within reason," said Draco, strictly. Seamus took a moment to think about it, then smiled.

"And you will be nice to me from now on?" Seamus asked Draco, who looked like he was dreading it, but nodded. "Deal!" they both exchanged a handshake.

"And you promise you won't say?" Hermione tried to confirm.

"Promise," Seamus reassured.

"Good, I will unfreeze you now then," said Hermione, lifting her wand and using a spell to reverse the spells' effects.

"Thanks, so I guess I will see ye' both later," Seamus began to leave. "I know it's an odd match, but I suppose I'm happy for ye'" Seamus smiled, before leaving.

Draco looked stunned for a moment, the alien behaviour shocked him slightly, and Hermione noticed it.

"That shows, not all Gryffindor's are all bad," Hermione commented.

"If they were perfect angels, we wouldn't have had to negotiate anything," said Draco.

"I said they weren't all bad, I didn't say they were perfect. I think you'll find no one is," replied Hermione.

"Well, I will have to disagree with that one," Draco felt embarrassed to say it, but he meant it, and found the blush that formed on Hermione's face completely adorable.

"That's sweet, thanks," she smiled, as they both hugged each other, feeling the warmth of one another, before letting their lips meet once more.

_"Yuck,"_ commented Moaning Myrtle, who was perched on one of the cubicles.

"Maybe, we should leave?" suggested Draco.

"Good idea," Hermione laughed, as they both exited the bathroom.

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><p><em>Hope you liked this chapter, please leave a review and thankyouu for reading! xx<em>


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

_Here is the next installment. I'm glad people have been liking my story so far, and I wish to say thanks for all the reviews and faves and alerts so far. It's why I keep going :-) so thanks! Please leave a review when you're done, and enjoy!_

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><p>The days went on, and Hermione and Draco continued seeing each other, privately. After buying him a new, fairly good, broomstick, Seamus had kept to his promise and hadn't said a word. He even covered for them in tricky situations, such as Hermione tripping up on her explaining trying to cover her secret meetings with him.<p>

Draco had asked Moaning Myrtle to keep what she saw to herself, obviously she did so. Not happy about them seeing each other, but Draco made a deal to visit at least once a day, so she didn't complain.

The time was 8pm, and Hermione had arranged to meet with Draco in the girls second floor bathroom again, seeing as it was the only place no one went, and Myrtle had already agreed to keep them two seeing each other a secret.

Hermione entered, her footsteps echoed around the entire bathroom, along with the taps dripping. It had an eerie silence, Hermione let loose a small shiver at the eeriness and the cold feeling that grazed her skin. She observed her watch, that read; 8:15.

"Late again," she sighed, observing the bathroom, suddenly her sight was blocked, by two hands, Hermione let out a gasp.

"Guess who," Draco's voice spoke, which calmed her in an instant, as she let out a relieved giggle.

"You scared me," she smiled as he removed his hands, placing them on her shoulders and turning her to face him.

"I'm a scary guy," said Draco, forcing his usual evil smirk down at her.

"Only when you pull that face," Hermione joked. "You look like you want to-"

Hermione was cut off by Draco's lips pressing against her own, she didn't protest and they both kissed. As their time together went on, their kisses would last a moment longer each time.

"I want to what?" Draco asked after he broke the kiss.

"I," Hermione was left speechless after that kiss, her eyes wandering his face for a moment trying to remember what she was saying. "I don't know."

Draco scanned Hermione's face. Her perfect face. No less than a month ago he despised this girl he held so closely to him, however at that moment, he felt like he couldn't live without her. He knew that would sound silly to anyone who had heard it, but then, Draco had never experienced any of this before, or even known someone who was as kind and concerned as she was. Draco didn't want to lose her, or the feelings. Hermione felt his arms wrap around her and she did the same with him. They did love to hug one another, feel each others warmth, both their heartbeats beating against the other.

"Just out of curiosity, Draco." Hermione started. "When will we go public about us?"

That question. That is the question Draco seemed to dread every time she asked. He didn't know, and he didn't know when he would know. It was a tricky spot, especially for him. If they went public, his Father would surely find out someway. However, if he kept keeping it a secret, he might end up losing Hermione.

"Why can't we just enjoy now?" Draco asked, with a sigh. Hermione's brows furrowed.

"What do you mean?"

"Let's just enjoy what we have at this moment, right now. If we keep worrying about the future we … won't enjoy us as much." Draco explained, finding it tricky to find the right words.

"Is that just another way of saying you don't know?" Hermione asked. Draco nodded slowly, almost ashamed. "Draco, I understand you need time, and I respect that. I'm just curious as to where this is leading? Like I said, it's becoming more and more difficult to keep meeting in secret. I would have been busted long ago if Seamus wasn't helping me."

"I know, I'm sorry!" Draco snapped, not wanting to sound as harsh as he did, and his expression showed it. "I …"

"You? … You what?"

"I want this to work…" said Draco, quietly. "I really do."

"I do too," said Hermione. "As long as I know that, I'm happy." Hermione smiled, Draco let out a small sigh of relief and received a peck on the cheek from Hermione.

"Good," said Draco, he gazed at Hermione for a short moment before feeling playful. Then without warning, he grabbed the edges of his robes and opened them, resembling the look of Dracula when he opened his cape, then consumed Hermione in his robes.

"Draco!" she squealed, playfully. Draco had never done that before. Finding it cute, Hermione decided to play along and fight back with his playful antics. Draco felt his jumper and shirt rise from under his robes, his heartbeat raced and his brain quickly tried to process what she would do, then the stinging feeling of two cold hands were placed on his bare skin, causing him to let out a high pitched squeal, releasing Hermione immediately. Hermione laughing at him.

"That's just mean!" said Draco, waiting for the cold feeling to warm up.

"Serves you right for trying to devour me in your robes," Hermione smiled. Draco glared playfully then dove at Hermione, but who saw it coming and quickly dodged him by running round the bathroom sinks, while he chased.

Both had never experienced such feelings, they loved it. Chasing and playing and spending time with one another, it was the best moments they had ever experienced at Hogwarts. Despite everything they had gone through previously. It was safe to say they enjoyed their company together a lot more than when they hated one another.

A few moments more of chasing went by, then Hermione found herself being caught and had to endure a tickle assault from Draco, which reduced her to high pitch giggles and pleas for him to stop.

_"Do you mind?"_ a high pitched voice came from one of the cubicles. _"I am trying to sleep in here!"_

"Sleep? It's only 8:30," said Draco, pausing his assault on Hermione, allowing her to catch her breath.

_"I like to get an early night,"_ said Myrtle. _"Is that a problem?"_

"I guess not, we'll just go then," said Draco, grabbing Hermione's hand and walking out of the bathroom. Hermione smiled as they both left then noticed some students sat in the corridor they were approaching. Draco immediately released Hermione's hand, which disappointed her slightly, but she knew the reason he did so. They walked through the crowd of students, making it look like they weren't walking with each other, both their hearts felt broken as they did this. They had to hide their feelings for one another, which they shouldn't have to do.

Once they were alone again, Hermione quickly hugged Draco. Making up for the loss of contact through that last moment.

"I hate this," Hermione confessed.

"Me too," said Draco, rubbing her back affectionately.

"I can't wait for it all to be in the open, then we can be ourselves everywhere."

"Yeah," Draco agreed, almost unsure if they would kiss in public all the time anyway. But he knew what she meant.

"So … Halloween is soon, then Christmas not long after," said Hermione, randomly. "I have come to a decision. If we don't tell anyone by that time, you will have to spend Christmas with me, and my family."

"Muggles?" Draco asked, sounding most shocked, which took Hermione by surprise.

"Yes. Muggles, I happen to be Muggle born, remember!" Hermione said, harshly, sounding offended.

"Sorry, old habits' kicked in there for a moment…" Draco tried to sound sincere.

"You really don't like Muggles, do you?" asked Hermione.

"It's not that I don't like them … I've been brought up to think that I -"

"Am better than them?"

Draco felt incredibly guilty. He wish he didn't feel that way, but that was how he was raised and was brought up to believe that. He ran a hand through his hair, not knowing what to say.

"Sorry," he said quietly.

"When you come to my house, you will see that Muggles are not what you think they are," Hermione ignored his apology and smiled. Another reason Draco liked Hermione, she would always give him a chance at proving himself to her.

"Okay," he gave her a kiss on her head. "But, you would honestly want me in your home?"

"Of course I would," Hermione smiled. "That is, if you want to of course."

"We'll see how things go from here first, who knows, more people might figure us out by then."

"True, I guess all options are open at the moment."

"As long as they mean spending time with you, then I'm happy," said Draco, which earned a smile from Hermione, a smile so powerful enough to make him melt. They both exchanged a kiss, before heading back down to their dormitories for the night.

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><p><em>Hope you liked this chapter :-) please leave a review and thankyouu for reading! xx<em>


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

_Ha, this one is about Halloween, which I found funny seeing as this is chapter 13, and 13 is supposed to be bad luck etc lol. Well I found it amusing anyway lol. Hope you enjoy this chapter! xx_

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><p>The day was October 30th. The day before Halloween, Hermione had to spend the entire day with Harry and Ron, which meant no seeing Draco. At all. Could she do that?…Of course. She had much more pride than that, she didn't need him everyday to get on with her life, still, she did love spending time with him. After nearly two months of seeing each other, he had a big effect on her.<p>

She hadn't been able to break the news to him yet, she knew he would be disappointed. However, it couldn't be helped.

Hermione stacked some books back on the shelf in the library, lost in thought. So much in fact, that she didn't even notice Draco enter the library. Draco obtained a few strange looks from students who wondered why he was in there.

"Psst," he whispered, as he went by the isle Hermione was down, her face was shocked for a moment when she saw him, but regained composure and discretely followed him further down into the library where no one was.

"What is it?" Hermione whispered.

"I hadn't seen you all day, so I figured I'd find you in here," Draco whispered back, scanning the area for anyone. Hermione thought that was sweet, that he wanted to see her.

"You can't last a day without seeing me?" Hermione laughed, secretly wanting to know the answer to that.

"I doubt it," he shared the tone of amusement. Hermione's expression dropped, however. She cleared her throat awkwardly.

"Oh…" she said, avoiding eye contact for a moment.

"I take that oh as, you can last a day?" asked Draco.

"No! … Well, I might have to," said Hermione. "Tomorrow, Harry and Ron and the rest of Gryffindor are having a small Halloween party in our common room, and as usual…"

"Sytherins aren't invited?" Draco finished, which Hermione slowly nodded to.

"I'm sorry, Draco,"

"No, it's fine. Should have expected it really," Draco forced a smile, which Hermione noticed.

"If I could get out of it, I would, but…it's difficult. Besides, who says we can't be apart for one day?" said Hermione. Draco stubbornly nodded. "Well if you're going to be a baby about it."

"Excuse me?" said Draco.

"You're sulking. There really isn't any need to, we will see each other the next day…it was your decision to stay private. We could have spent the day together if you-"

"You're throwing that in my face? Did you not remember what I came to Hogwarts like? My Dad would _kill_ me, literally kill me if he found out," said Draco, his tone raising which Hermione had to hush.

"I know that Draco! All I am saying is don't blame me for not being able to spend a day with you, when that is the reason," she whispered harshly. "I have no power over this, I can't do anything about it."

"Fine," said Draco. "See you after tomorrow then." he was about to walk off.

"Draco," Hermione grabbed his robes, forcing him to face her. He found it very hard to have an angry face at her, but tried to anyway. Hermione pressed her lips against his quickly and smiled sweetly. "See you later," Draco gave in, he couldn't have an angry face at her, so smiled and walked off disappointedly.

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><p>It was Halloween, the students were all in the Great Hall for dinner. They were to have their party once they had finished their dinner. Hermione glanced over at the Slytherin table every now and again to see what Draco was doing. He would either be eating, or laughing with his friends. She loved his laugh, and the way he ate was oddly adorable. Seamus would have to nudge her to stop her from looking at him too long, which she was silently thankful for.<p>

"So Hermione, is Luna defiantly coming for the party?" asked Harry, from across the table.

"I don't know, I hadn't been able to ask her yet," Hermione replied. Ron frowned.

"Wait, you said you were taking care of that the other day," said Ron, which reminded Hermione she used that as a cover story to meet with Draco. The memory with him caused her to fight a smile.

"Uhh,"

"What did you do then? If you didn't see Luna," asked Harry.

Hermione felt a lump in her throat, how on earth would she get out of this one?

"She was with me!" Seamus stepped in. The trio's eyes landed on him. "I uh, wanted a woman's opinion on my costume for tonight, ye' see."

"Why a woman's?" Harry asked, sounding confused.

"And why Hermione?" Ron added.

"Oh, I'm sorry, is she only allowed to talk to you guys?" Seamus asked, defensively.

"Suppose not," said Ron, still sounding unsure about it, but leaving it.

"Thank you," Hermione whispered very quietly to Seamus next to her, who smiled and nodded.

That time was too close. She was almost caught. Of course they would only suspect she was doing something else other than what she would be saying, but obviously they wouldn't suspect her seeing Draco. She hoped.

At that moment, the stress started to build, and Hermione couldn't take it. Tears immediately formed in her eyes, and she found herself breaking down. Shocking those who sat around her.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Harry asked, sounding very concerned. However, Hermione found herself unable to speak, then quickly got up and exited the Great Hall. Draco noticed the scene from his table, and had to fight a huge urge to run after her.

Seamus noticed this, and quickly got up and walked after her. Harry and Ron exchanging confused glances at one another.

"You don't think they're …" Ron pulled a face.

"No, of course not…at least…I don't think so," Harry and Ron suspiciously looked at the exit of the Great Hall.

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><p>Seamus quickly caught up to Hermione, who was crying as she walked. He stopped her and sat her down.<p>

"What's the matter?" he asked her.

"I can't do this, it's becoming too hard," Hermione sobbed.

"What is?"

"The whole, me and Draco secret. I'm tripping over myself, I'm lying to my friends, I can't-" Seamus gently placed his arm around her shoulders comfortingly and rubbed her arm.

"It's alrigh'" he said quietly. "Ye' know, Malfoy wanted to run out after ye'. I saw it on his face, I'd bet he give anything to be here now instead of me." Hermione gave a small smile at that statement. She too, would give anything to be with him at that moment. "I think ye' need to tell Malfoy how ye' feel."

"I have, many times, but he still wants to wait," Hermione sobbed.

"At the end of the day, Hermione. The big question ye' gotta ask ye'self is, is he worth waiting for?" said Seamus, which Hermione had to think about carefully before answering.

"Yes. He is."

"There ye' go," he smiled. "In time, keep asking ye'self that question, and if the answer changes, that's when you do something about it."

"You're right," said Hermione. "Thanks…" she gave Seamus a small hug. "Where did you learn these things?"

"Me Mam probably," Seamus shrugged, then laughed after how silly that sounded, which Hermione laughed along to.

"I'm glad it was you who spotted Draco and I, I doubt anyone else would be this helpful," Hermione confessed, which Seamus smiled to.

"Glad I can help, now, when ye' next see Malfoy, tell him he's welcome for doing his job," Seamus winked playfully. "Now, lets get to the party." Seamus got up and escorted Hermione back to the Gryffindor common room.

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><p><em>Hope you liked this chapter :-) I thought Seamus was very helpful lol Please leave a review and thankyouu for reading! xx<em>


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

_Hope you enjoy this installment! :-) xx_

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><p>Hermione had kept her protests about the situation to herself from that day on. She liked Draco, and didn't want to say anything to ruin it. She said to him about the breakdown, that it was caused through lack of sleep. Which got her off the hook. As the months went on, they continued seeing one another.<p>

Now the Christmas holidays had arrived. All students were packing to go home for the Holidays.

"So Hermione, you coming round for Christmas?" asked Ron, carrying his suitcase through the common room.

"Not this year, sorry Ron," replied Hermione, her mind else well and not really paying attention.

"Why not?" asked Ron, sounding most disappointed. "Spending it with Seamus, I'm guessing."

That shot Hermione out of thought, as he head shot up at him, even Seamus alerted by the mention of his name.

"Seamus? What on Earth gave you that idea?" Hermione snapped at him, standing up so they were eye level.

"Well, you're both always together and talk to one another."

"So that means we're dating now, does it?" asked Hermione.

"Well, I just assumed -"

"Well, next time, don't just assume things, especially things that are absolutely ridiculous, Ronald!" Hermione lifted the handle up on her suitcase. "Seamus and I are friends, nothing more. Goodbye," she headed out of the Gryffindor common room. "Have a nice Christmas, Harry," she spoke normally before leaving. Seamus just stood awkwardly before leaving the common room also.

"Hermione!" he caught up with her. "What was that all about?"

"Ronald, thinking we're dating. That's absurd. We're friends," said Hermione, still walking.

"Ha, yeah. That was a bit out there, then again, so is you and ye' Mr." Seamus commented, smiling. "Anyway, hope ye' both have a nice Christmas, yeah?"

"You too," Hermione smiled, waving to him as he walked off. She was really thankful for everything he did for her and Draco so far this year.

She made her way down to the train, Hogwarts Express, waiting for any signs of Draco. She saw all the students get on the train before her, but didn't see Draco.

"He must not be coming," she told herself, feeling disappointed she got on the train alone. She walked down the corridors of the train, trying to find a free compartment to sit in, however, she found herself being pulled into a compartment, the door shutting, locking and the blind coming down. It all happened so fast. She barely had blinked.

"Managed to get a compartment all for ourselves," Draco's voice said. "Got a silent charm on the doors too." Draco found himself getting hit in the arm. "Ow! What was that for?"

"You scared me! I nearly had a heart attack!" said Hermione.

"Sorry," Draco said, sheepishly, as he rubbed his arm where she had hit him. Lucky for him, she found him adorable, so she gave him a peck on the cheek to show he was forgiven.

"Excited for Christmas?"

"Not really," Draco confessed.

"Oh, enthusiastic much," said Hermione, turning her attention out the window.

"Never really been excited about Christmas,"

"Not even when you were a kid?" asked Hermione.

"Well, when I was really young, maybe," Draco fiddled with his fingers. "Never was very festive in my house." the mention of his house obviously brought Draco's mood down. His expression dropped and he looked lost in thought.

"Draco, try not to think about him, I promise Christmas at my house will be very peaceful, and -" Draco looked up at her, to see what she had left to say. "We can be alone."

This instantly brought a smile on Draco's face, as he put one arm around her, pulling her close to him. He gave her a gentle kiss on her head.

"Something, I am defiantly looking forward to," he smiled, as they both pressed their lips together.

However, the journey back to Hermione's hometown was worrying. Draco would be spending the holidays with Muggles. He had come to think, that was probably worse than him and Hermione seeing each other. He would be dead if his Father ever found this out, and that was certain.

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><p>Once they arrived, Draco had to cover himself so he was barely recognisable to anyone so he could leave with Hermione without suspicion.<p>

The ground was covered in snow, both were wearing their coats, snow boots and long scarves, dragging their suitcases along the ground.

"I'm having second thoughts, Hermione," said Draco, which stopped Hermione in her tracks.

"Second thoughts?" she repeated. "Why, what's wrong?"

"Well … I'm not exactly … comfortable with this," Draco had to choose his words wisely.

"We can't exactly do much about it now, can we?" said Hermione. "We're already here, and the train has already left." Draco looked at the neighbourhood. He felt so out of place. "You'll be fine, I promise." Hermione grabbed his gloved hand with her free hand and lead him further through the street.

"What do I say to them?" asked Draco, along with many other questions on the way.

"Hello? Nice to meet you? You have a nice daughter?" Hermione suggested.

"Ooh, dunno if I should lie about the last one," Draco joked, which earned him a playful shove.

"But, things along those lines, oh and keep all wizard talk to a minimum please,"

"They know you're a witch, don't they?" asked Draco.

"Yes, however, I don't talk so much about the things that go on at Hogwarts, I just tell them how Harry and Ron are, what I learnt so far and that's it. Everything else, is kept to a minimum."

"That lowers my conversation level to zero."

"You will be fine, Draco"

"Do they even know about me?" asked Draco.

"Yes, I recently sent them an owl about you … now here we are." they halted their walking as they arrived at a decent sized house. However, it was very small in Draco's eyes. "What do you think?"

"It's … nice," said Draco, which took him a while to think of a good word. Hermione led him to the front door where she opened it, Draco nervously walking behind her.

"Mum!" Hermione called out, as she and Draco stood in the hallway.

"Hermione!" her Mother came out of the kitchen and greeted with a warm friendly hug. Which was alien to Draco for a start. "How are you? How was your train ride?"

"It was great, Mum," Hermione smiled, then faced Draco. "Mum, this is Draco Malfoy. The one I told you about in my letters."

"Well," Hermione's Mum looked very happy to see him, causing Draco to smile awkwardly. "Very nice to meet you, Draco," she held out her hand for a handshake which Draco grabbed a shook. He then tried to think of some of the things Hermione had suggested before, but he was so nervous he became muddled.

"Nice to meet nice daughter," he came out with. Realising it was wrong the moment he said it, and the expressions on Hermione and her Mother's faces didn't help.

"I'm sorry?" Hermione's Mother asked, looking very confused.

"You have a nice home," he managed to say, which wiped off the confused expression off her face, and replaced it a friendly smile.

"Thank you," she smiled.

"Where's Dad?" Hermione changed the subject.

"He's at work, working late tonight to, so you probably will see him tomorrow," her Mum explained. "Why don't you both get settled upstairs and I'll call you when dinner is ready?"

"Thanks Mum," and with that she took her case and escorted Draco up to her room. He stood in the doorway of her room, feeling embarrassed about entering.

"Draco, you can come in you know," she laughed at his innocence. Draco took one small step in, and she immediately saw the blush form on his face. Which she laughed at. "Aw, you're so cute."

"No I'm not," he smiled, bashfully. Her hands grabbed his and she brought him further into her room. "I just made a complete fool of myself didn't I?"

"No … well, maybe a little bit, but that was very funny what you said," Hermione giggled. Draco sighed while Hermione embraced him. "Don't worry, give it a day and you will feel right at home."

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><p><em>This chapter is not my fave, but I hope you liked it anyway :-) please leave a review and thankyouu for reading! xx<em>


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

_It's late, I'm tired, so only a short chapter for now lol hope you enjoy! xx_

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><p>The dinner time was very awkward for Draco, he would listen to Hermione and her Mother discuss Muggle things that he had no idea what they were. He would nod occasionally if her Mother asked his opinion, however he could tell his answers were wrong.<p>

"I'm an embarrassment to you," said Draco, laying across Hermione's bed, staring at the ceiling. Hermione; brushing her hair in the mirror, gave a small laugh.

"Don't be silly, Draco." Hermione smiled at his reflection. "You were fine, although, I admit your answers to some of Mum's questions were a bit …"

"Stupid?"

"Not the word I was going to use actually," said Hermione.

"Yeah, you were," Draco laughed, rubbing his hands down his face. Hermione looked at him through the mirror. He was so adorable. It was unbelievable to think that, Draco Malfoy, would be in her house, on her bed, and staying with Muggles. He was full of surprises this year.

"I'm really glad things have turned out the way they have," said Hermione, softly. Draco's head leant up slowly, his face looking sort of confused. "Oh no! That came out wrong, I didn't mean I'm glad what your Father did, I was meaning the outcome…not that I was happy about your condition!" Hermione kept tripping up on herself and just stopped, placing her forehead against the wall next to the mirror. "Sorry."

She waited for a reply, but Draco said nothing, she then sighed in thinking she upset him. She may have been wrong. She felt arms snake around her waist from behind, pulling her into a loving embrace, feeling lips press gently against the side of her neck.

"It's okay," he whispered into her ear, the feeling of his breath sent shivers down her spine. She turned in his embrace and looked into his eyes. Those eyes that were filled with arrogance and hate, now gleaming with love and affection.

"Oh Draco," she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck gently. "If only your parents weren't so horrible, we could be together without all this sneaking…and guilt."

"My Mum's fine, it's just my Father," Draco corrected, pressing his lips against hers quickly but lovingly.

"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to insult her," said Hermione, between the mini kisses they shared.

"Guilt?" Draco paused, recalling her previous sentence. "Who's feeling guilt?"

"Well, you of course. You don't want your Father finding out about us, so you feel guilty about dating behind his back-"

"That man tortured me. I have no guilt for anything I do against him." Draco said, sternly.

"Then what are we doing?" asked Hermione. "Why are we in secret?"

"Alright, I don't want him finding out….because…."

"What, Draco?"

"I don't want him harming you, any shape or form." Draco confessed. Hermione was shocked, happy but shocked. "I care about you too much, and I wouldn't want what he did to me, be done to you."

"Draco," said Hermione. "You care that much for me?" Draco nodded as a reply, Hermione looked down for a moment before looking back into his eyes, she gave him a warm smile, before embracing him tightly once more. "Thank you."

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><p>The hours went by, and Draco and Hermione were laying on the bed. Hermione had made it into a large double bed, she didn't want Draco to sleep on the couch, so she made the bed big enough so they had enough space. Sure, they were seeing each other, but sleeping in the same bed when only seeing each other in a short amount of time was slightly, awkward.<p>

Draco couldn't sleep, he felt too out of place, even homesick. A Muggle home wasn't the place for him, being with Hermione made it more bearable, but, it all felt wrong.

"Hermione," Draco whispered. No answer. "Hermione!" he whispered louder.

"What?" Hermione groaned.

"Are you awake?"

"You do know that was me who said 'What' right?" Hermione replied, playfully.

"I need to talk to you," said Draco, quietly.

"Now?" asked Hermione, observing the clock beside her bed. "Draco, it's 2am."

"I know, but, it's kinda important."

"Alright," Hermione sighed, turning round on the bed, to face him. "What is it?"

"I don't know how to tell you this…but I think I should, go home tomorrow."

"What?" Hermione's eyes widened. "Are you mad? You can't possibly think going home is a good idea, Draco."

"I don't belong here, Hermione," argued Draco.

"You haven't even given this place a chance!" said Hermione.

"Hermione-"

"I mean, how could going back home be more pleasant than staying in a nice safe house,"

"Hermione-"

"It's madness-"

"Hermione!" Draco managed to get Hermione to stop talking, his loud tone taking her by surprise. "I don't belong here, I need to go home."

Hermione shot him a small angry look before turning to face the other way again. "Fine."

"Please don't be upset,"

"I'm not," Hermione said, harshly. "It's your decision. It isn't as if you really need to be here anyway."

Draco sighed.

"Fine, I'll stay longer,"

"Oh don't force yourself," said Hermione, roughly.

"No. I want to, for you," said Draco. Hermione found it hard to be angry at that one, so turned to face him and quickly pecked him on the cheek.

"Thank you."

He knew going home was bad, but he really wanted to see how his Mother was. He missed her, and his home. But he wanted to make Hermione happy, so he would have to put up with this place for her, no matter how unbearable.

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><p><em>Hope you liked this chapter, please leave a review, and thankyouu for reading! xx<em>


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

_I am so sorry I have kept you all waiting. Internet was cut off, I got into my other fanfics, all that jazz. Anyways, I have finally updated, and hope you like this chapter. xx_

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><p>The Sun had barely risen, and Hermione found herself being awoken by usual clockwork. She always awoke early, even when she didn't need to. She gave a small yawn and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, allowing her eyes to adjust to her surroundings. The sight of her room came into view and she gave a small peaceful smile, the room always brought back memories of when she was smaller.<p>

However, there was something different, and Hermione immediately figured out what when she looked beside her and saw a sleeping Draco Malfoy, fast asleep. This brought an even bigger smile onto her face, he looked so peaceful when he was asleep, his hair was slightly messy and Hermione had to hold back a small laugh from the sight. She wondered what he was dreaming about, and a small part of her hoped he didn't open his eyes to see her watching him sleep, that would come off as a little bit creepy. She wanted to let him sleep a bit more, but noticed he had began to stir. She bit her lip and held her breath, awaiting the outcome, he didn't awake, but it was obvious he was not in a deep slumber anymore.

"Draco," she whispered. Nothing. "Draco," she tried again, and got a small groan as a reply. "Draco Malfoy!"

"What?" his eyes shot open to look at her. "What is it?"

"It's time to get up," she giggled. He blinked sleepily then checked the clock beside the bed, noticing it read 6am.

"6am?" he looked back at her. "Why on Earth is it time to get up?"

"The later you get up, the less you get to do in the day," she chirped happily, getting off the bed, while Draco lazily and heavily put his head back on the pillow.

"That's how I like it," he muffled into the pillow. "We don't have school, and I certainly haven't got things to do, so this is how I'm spending my day."

"Oh no you're not!" said Hermione, pulling the covers off of him, the cold air sending shivers up his spine from contact with his skin. "You're getting up right now!" he didn't move. "Draco!" again he didn't respond. "Oh, so that's how it's going to be! Well then, I will have just leave you here all day."

"Thanks," he smirked into the pillow.

"Draco," she whined sitting down on the bed once more. "Please get up," he made another groan sound that protested against what she had asked. "Draco! I will have to force you if you don't get up now!"

"Force me?"

"Yes!"

"How?"

"I know a few spells," Hermione stated. "Harmful ones."

"You wouldn't use harmful spells on me," Draco smirked, but opened one eye at her. "Would you?"

"Ha, try me," she grinned, holding her wand up ready.

"You're not aloud to use magic outside of school," he reminded. Hermione stared at him before sighing in defeat. He was right, and she would never break the rules. "What was the point in you coming here if…Oh, so that's it."

"What?"

"This is your plan isn't it. You want to go home so badly that you're being a pain on purpose." Draco leant up on his arm and looked up at her.

"You honestly think that?"

"Yes, I do. Given what you had told me last night."

"Hermione, if I honestly wanted to go, I would have done so during the night. Not made some childish plan in attempt of hurting your feelings." he held up her hand and planted a kiss upon it. Hermione looked into his eyes, to see if he was being sincere, and smiled.

"Thank you," she saw a smile on his face. "We can go for a walk today if you want."

"Alright," he yawned.

"Draco,"

"Yes?"

"You won't leave me in the middle of the night, will you?" she asked, he could tell she had been thinking about that since he said it.

"No, Hermione. I'm not going to leave you like that, I will only leave if I have your permission."

"My permission? I'm not your Mother," she joked, then quickly covered her mouth. "I'm so sorry." she could tell that bringing up his Mother upset him. He avoided eye contact with her. He then got up.

"Where's the bathroom?" he asked, emotionlessly.

"It's first door on your right," she replied, and with that he grabbed some clothes from his suitcase and left the bedroom. "Oh God," Hermione whispered to herself in frustration. What a poor choice of words.

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><p><em>Sorry for it being so short, I am ill lol need some sleep. Hope you liked this chapter, please leave a review and thanks for reading! xx<em>


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